


Alter

by yeaka



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-16 10:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21506455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Michael goes to her guest quarters on Discovery.
Relationships: Michael Burnham & Sylvia Tilly
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10





	Alter

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Trek or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

The quarters she’s shown to on _Discovery_ are small, generic, worse than what she’s used to but better than a holding cell. Michael marches through them without taking in much. It doesn’t matter what they look like or how comfortable they are. She won’t be around long. She heads to the nearest bunk, only to realize there only _is_ one bunk.

Michael’s abruptly shaken out of her depressing fugue. She does a double take to the other side of the room. Where a second bed should be, there’s a large tub full of water. Michael blinks at it, dazed. She doesn’t know of any ship that gives the lower personal whole rooms to themselves but has part of the bathroom in the bedroom. There’s no toilet or sink that she can see: just a long, oblong tub, about the size of her mattress, made of metal matching the bulkheads and filled right to the brim. She’s still staring when the doors swish open behind her. 

Michael steps back, and a redheaded woman with pale skin rolls forward. Propped up in a wheelchair, the mermaid comes to the side of the tub. 

She turns her chair around and looks up at Michael with a wide, all too human smile across her round features, bizarrely warm and colloquial given that they’ve just met. Michael knows that she’s still frowning. She can’t look all that friendly. But the mermaid grins up at her like they’re going to be best friends. 

The mermaid thrusts out a hand and offers, “Sylvia Tilly. Uh, Cadet Tilly. I’m so excited to meet you, seriously. They told me I couldn’t have a roommate because of the whole, y’know, weird room configuration thing, but I guess you don’t mind sharing with a Merperson? I promise I won’t splash you in the middle of the night! Haha. That, uh... that was a joke. I don’t splash. Am I talking too much? Sorry, I do that when I’m nervous.”

She finally lowers her hand, maybe because it’s become obvious that Michael’s not going to shake it. Michael’s still staring at the woman—Cadet Tilly—soaking in her tight red curls and the bright orange scales of her long tail. It’s a mesmerizing view. Michael’s seen her fair share of aliens, but she’s never seen one quite so... _cute_.

She feels an overwhelming urge to offer to help Tilly into the tub. She wants to feel those exquisite scales and calm Tilly’s nerves. Then she reels herself back and remembers who she is now. She’s no longer a Starfleet officer, free to mingle with the unknown. 

She mutters, “I’m not staying,” and turns back to her bunk. She already feels a sinking feeling for rejecting Tilly’s welcome, but that’s better than succumbing to the wonderment that Tilly fills her with.

That’ll only make it harder to leave when she’s inevitably ripped away.


End file.
